Improvement in salt-works



yUnirse STATES Armar trice.

IMPRovEM ENT iN SALT-WORKS.

Speeilication forming part ot Letters Patent No. 2,735, datedJuly`23,`l842.

T0 LZZ whom it may concern Be itknown that I, CALVIN GUITEAU, of thevillage of Syracuse, town of Salina, in Onondaga county and State of NewYork, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Manufactoring Coarse andFine Salt; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full andexact description.

The nature of my invention consists of four boilers, set in walls madeof stone and brick. The two front'boilers are forty feet long, and areintended to make brine and generate steam, and are made of sheets ofcast-iron, with flanges on the inner side of each sheet from one and ahalf to two inches wide, so as to be drilled through and rivetedtogether. The boilers are of an exact semicircle, three feet across,aboutnine-tenths of an inch thick at the bottoni, and about three-tenthsof an inch at the upper side of the boiler, and of a true taper f romthe bottom to the upper side of the flange. There is a flange from twoand a half to three inches wide turned to a horizontal level, whichsupports the boilers on the walls in which they are set, and then turnsup perpendicular about four inches, through which holes are bored aboutten inches apart. The heads are of cast-iron, and are carried up to thesame level with the iiange, as above described, through which holes arealso bored. The rear boilers may be made of boiler sheetiron, with ahorizontal` flange about three inches wide to support them on the walls;or both front and rear boilers may be made of cast-iron sheets7 as abovedescribed, without the inner flange, by a band of iron of at least aquarter inch thick, and about four inches wide, laid on where cast-ironsheets come together on the outside, and so drilled through the sheetand bands as to be riveted substantially together, and be well cementedon the inner side in the joints. There is a iifthboiler, made the sameas the above-described forty- 'eet front boilers, but only twenty feetin length, and is used to generate steam to heat the crude salt-water inthe reservoir and make brine.

A is the walls, of stone and brick, in which the above four boilers areset, the two in front to generate steam and make brine, and the two inrear to make iine salt, which are tlled with and boil pure saturatedbrine only. (See the annexed plan, the boilers c c c c.) The walls areeleven feet wide. rlhe bottom of the boilers in front are tive feetabove the hearth of their fire-places.

D D are the cast-iron frames in iront to support the walls, and have twoiron rods on each side secured through the cast-i ron, which extendabout four feet into the walls, with their ends turned at right angles,and so laid in by masonwork as to give strength and security. (See theplan 13.) Six inches in from the front ofthe fireplace and eight inchesabove the hearth castiron plates are secured in the wall on each side,projecting out one inch, on which projection the mouth-irons rest onwhich the wood is laid. The hearth of the fire-places is made of brick,and laid edgewise, with thin clay mortar inixedswith saltwater andextended in three feet from the front on a level. The brick are thenlaid tlatwise with the same kind of Inortar, on an inclined planeseventeen feet,which brings it up to within six inches ofthe bottom ofthe boiler, keeping the width of twenty inches between the walls. Itisthen expanded in direct lines, and carried down the canals or fines fromthe twenty inches in width to twenty-three inches at the chimney and teninches below the bottom of the boiler. The lues or canals are thenturned down, so as to enter the tlues ofthe chimney on its upper side aslow and on a level with the canal or iiues above described, being teninches below the bottom of the boiler. The wall about the sides of theboilers islaid on a circle from the upper sides, which circle falls sixinches below the bottoms of the boilers. Vhere the ues come six inchesbelow the bottom of the boilers, as

above expressed, the whole of the flue is estimated at one hundred andeighty square inches, and at the chimney two hundred square inches, upthe iiue of the chimney two hundred and iii'ty square inches, whichchimney must be made with a substantial partition from the bottom to thetop, so that each re is kept in its own flue.

E E represent a two-incl1 pine plank sixteen inches wide, twenty feetlong, set in and fitted to the flange which supports the boilers on thewalls, with holes bored corresponding with the holes in the flange whichsupports the side plank, through which iron bolts are placed with screwson the ends, on which nuts are fitted, and in the saine manner at theheads K` K, also the rear ends. Vhen screwed up is drawn into vats in aperfectly pure state and made secure by calking with hemp. flax, or

. cotton, incorporated with white-lead and oil between the iiange andplank to prevent leaking. At the rear end the planks are carried up, soas to attach steam-conductors to them to carry the steam to thesalting-vats, and are closely covered by two-inch plank in the form of abox.

F F are covers with wooden handles and with cross-pieces of two-inchplank framed across into the side plank to support the same. .The coversare made of half-inch pine boards, and of two or three in thickness, byplacing them together lengthwise, so as to break joints, and whenVswelled by steam theV swelling and4V shrinking will be equal. They mustbe well put together by suitable nails, and at the sides and ends cutdown to an angle of forty-tive degrees, also the upper side of the plankand cross -pieces, so that when placed over the boilers they will set toa joint and to a uniform level. Vhen the covers are laid on as aboveexplained, take pure clay mortar, and with the linger press it into thejoints ofthe covers (as still-caps are pasted on) to secure against theescape of steam.

' G G represent the opening four by iiveinches, to let oft the steam asoccasion requires.

H H representan iron rod, which passes through the cover ofthe steam-boxand is attachedto a wooden slide on the inside and secured to the plankon each side by cleats.v By the iron rod the slide is pushed down, whichcloses the steam-conductor. When raised thel passage is open for thesteam to pass to the steam-box ofthe saltingvat.

I I are openings twelve inches square.

U is a box open at each end, and is secured at one end into the openingat I, the other end secured in the opposite opening at I, which box, sotted in slide 12, opens a passage for steam from one boiler to theother, through the center of which box, on the upper side, an l openingis made, and on the inner side ofthe box, down each side, it is groovedand aslide is made and so iit'ted in when pushed down to stop thepassage of steam, and when pulled up the passage is opened. By the useof this box the steam of both boilers may be turned and used eitherway,or by closing the passage by the slide, as above explained, the steam isconiined on each side to its own conductor.

J J J arethe side vats with their partitions, where the brine'which isdischarged'frorn the boilers and carried by wooden spouts into the frontend of each side vat 50 from saturation, (by a hydrometer graduated at100 for saturation,) where aconstant stream is falling onto salt, whichcompletes the saturation, and the last of the impurities areprecipitated. The first partition stops most of the impurities, fromwhich they are thrown or shoveled out. rlhe brine is then drawn into thesecond apartment, where the most or all of the impurities which remainsettle. rIhe brine is then carried to the third apartment, from which itis distributed into the salting -vats, excepting what has been carriedinto the rearboilers for making fine salt, which require a supply offrom thirteen to sixteen hundred gallons every twenty-four hours.

K K are the heads of front boilers. The uppermost hole is secured by afaucet to test the depth of brine, which is stopped bya long taperingtap to prevent being blocked byimpurities and prevent being burned bysteam. The second hole is larger than the first about one inch below,and secured in the same manner, where a constant stream'is running intoa spout and carried into the front end of the side vat, as aboveexplained. Great care is required to avoid approaching to saturation,which would throw down the impurities in bulk and block the boilers; butby not approaching nearer than 5 of saturation, and drawing out theimpurities as they are thrown from their suspended state by the force ofheat and rise to the surface, the impurities are safely carried in thewater to and deposited in the sidevats. rlhe hole nearthe bottom is fordischarging the whole when cooling down the Works, and may be stoppedbyafaucet and tap or plug. At the rear end of the walls the brick are solaid in with clay mortar that they may be taken outand the ashes scrapedout, which may be there deposited and in lthe same manner closed upagain.

L L are the logs which carry the steam, from the covers of thesteam-boilers into the steamboxes of the salting-vats, are oftwelve-inch bore.

M represents the walls of a furnace where a boiler is set to heat thereservoirs when filled ywith crude salt-water; also, a cast-iron framein front, to support the walls, with a mouth-iron place. The boiler isthe same in size as the fortyfoot boilers at G C; differs only inlength, being twenty feet. The setting in the walls differs only theincline plain, which is carried into the Ichimney on the same plan asabove explained I at D D.

l N is the chimney, the plank on the sides, ends, and covers, and thextures at the rear ends the same as the other already described. (Seethe plan E E.)

O is the door with a wooden handle, which opens to the inside of thesteam-box on the rear end of the boiler which vheats the reservoir.

P P P P are logs of six-inch bore, which conduct the steam from theboiler into the steamboxes of the reservoirs, which pass through thecenter 011 the bottom of each reservoir, and are covered with coppersheets. The plank which inclose the steam-boiler are opened near therear part on each side, so as to admit'the bored log,(steam-conductors,) and to be so secured as to conduct off the steam.The log to carry the steam to the reservoir is left open, while theopposite one is plugged. Vhen the reservoir is sufficiently heated it is-plu gged with the plug on which the wood is laid in front of the iireindropping 'down the iiue at the upper point of sixty feet to two hundredfeet, the steam inthe rear brought in serves to equalize the heatedbrine, extends the room and time for continuing the process, and therebyincreasing the weight. To make heavy salt, the brine must be deep. It'not deep, light iiakes and light salt will be the result. The saltshould be moved once ortwice in twenty-four hours. It presents a newside of each crystal and the weight greatly increased.

Vhat I claim as my own invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is as follows, viz: t

l. The manner of setting my four boilers, as described by the annexedplan, with their xtures for carrying out and effecting thereby theobject of simplifying the inode of making more coarse and line saltfwithless labor, fuel, and

expense than has ever been done orknown bebefore in the United States.With two salting-vats of one hundred and sixty feet each in length, withthree oneffourth cords of Wood one, hundred and fifty bushels are madeweighing from seventy to eighty pounds to the measured bushel, and fromthe rear boilers fifty bushels of pure line salt from pure saturatedbrine with an overplus of brine reinaining.

2. The extension of the salting-vats to two hundred feet in length andbringing in the steam from the two boilers to increase and equalize theheat in the rear part of the salting-vats will greatly increase theamount of salt with but a small addition of wood; also, by the use ofthe condensed steam from the rear end of the steam-boxes, whicllrbcingpure water will avoid blocking the boilers with limy incrustation ascould not be avoided by the use of the fresh water of this region ofcountry being universally impregnated with lime.

3. Avoiding blocking the boilers by keepin g short of saturation anddrawing ottthe water with its impurities 5 from saturation as they aredriven from their suspended state by the force of heat, and rise to thesurface and are drawn into the side vats, and saturation completed byiiue salt taken from the rear boilers where in this manner the last ofthe impurities are separated and deposited. By this process the greatdit'liculties of making salt are remedied, and is not only new but themost useful of anything'known or used in the history of salt-making.

t CALVIN GUITEAU.

Vitnesses:

EDWARD P. REED, J UsrUs W. HALE.

